ITHACA, NY – The No. 4 RIT (11-2) men's lacrosse team scored the first five goals of the game en route to a 16-14 win at No. 10 Ithaca College (10-3) Tuesday afternoon. RIT has won six straight games, and hands Ithaca its first home loss since February, 2015.

Shots were 57-47 in favor of RIT, who also won the ground ball battle 60-43. The Tigers won 24-of-34 face-offs and cleared the ball 21-of-27 times.

Chad Levick (Newmarket, Ontario/Huron Heights Secondary) led a balanced RIT scoring attack with six points on two goals and four assists. Brendan MacDonald (Georgetown, ON/Trinity-Pawling) scored three goals and added an assist, while Aidan Milburn (Vancouver, British Columbia/Sentinel Secondary) tallied three goals. Ryan Lee (Sharon, Ontario/The Hill Academy) finished with two goals and an assist, and Kyle Killen (Peterborough, ON/Crestwood Secondary ) scored a goal and dished out three assists.

Steven Ricci (Rochester, NY/Pittsford Sutherland) was tremendous for the Tigers, winning 22-of-31 face-offs, scooping up 13 ground balls and scoring a goal. Chandler Allen (Ilderon, ON/Medway) and Eli Salama (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Dr. Charles Best) each caused two turnovers, and Salama grabbed five ground balls. Nick Nesbitt (Burlington, Ontario/Salisbuury School) improved to 9-2 in net, making 15 saves.

Jack Shumway led Ithaca with four goals. Stephen Morrell tallied three goals and Will Witter scored a pair of goals. Jack Deragon took the loss in net despite making 18 saves.

RIT jumped out to an early 3-0 lead inside the first three minutes of the game and led 5-0 before the game was six minutes old. Lee, Hall and MacDonald each struck for the Tigers early in the quarter. Hall and MacDonald scored fast-break goals as the Tigers got their transition-game going early. The Tigers added goals from Lee, Milburn and Levick to give RIT a 6-3 lead after the first quarter.

Shots were 17-8 in favor of the Tigers. Shumway scored two of Ithaca's three goals in the quarter. RIT held a 21-10 ground ball edge, and Ricci won 9-of-10 face-offs in the opening quarter.

The Tigers added three goals in the second quarter to lead 9-7 at the half. MacDonald gave RIT a 7-4 lead with his goal at the 12:07 mark of the quarter. After an Owen Smith goal cut the Tigers lead to 7-5, Killen scored at the 9:29 mark to make it 8-5 RIT.

After two Ithaca tallies, Milburn tallied his second of the half with 1:30 to play in the quarter to give RIT a 9-7 lead. Shots were 37-21 RIT in the first half. Nesbitt made seven saves, while Deragon made 15 saves for Ithaca in the opening half. Ricci won 15-of-18 face-offs.

RIT scored two quick goals to open the third quarter. Vakiener scored on a rebound inside to make it 10-7 Tigers. Milburn tallied his second of the game on RIT's next possession to increase its lead to 11-7. RIT would lead by as much as five, 13-8 midway through the quarter, but Ithaca would rally with consecutive goals to rally. Vakiener would tally with 33 seconds to play in the quarter to increase RIT's lead to 14-10.

Shumway struck early in the fourth quarter for Ithaca, tallying 36 seconds into the quarter to cut the RIT lead to 14-11. On RIT's next possession, Ricci took an outlet pass from Nesbitt off a save, and scored on transition with a bouncing a shot over Deragon's shoulder to give RIT a 15-11 lead.

The Bombers would not go away. Josh Della Puca scored with 13:28 to play to cut the lead to 15-12. Greg Drillock scored off a feed from Conner Crosson with 10:51 to play to make it a 15-13 lead for RIT. Morrell made it 15-14 RIT with his goal with 3:34 to play, beating Nesbitt with a good low shot. On the ensuing face-off, Levick fed Salama on the attack, who beat Deragon with a shot into the top right corner to give the Tigers a 16-14 lead.

Chandler Allen (Ilderon, ON/Medway) caused a turnover with a minute remaining in regulation, stripping Shumway and scooping up the loose ball and beginning the clear. The Tigers were able to kill of the final minute for the win.

RIT went 1-of-6 with the man advantage, and held Ithaca to zero goals in three man-up tries. Ithaca leads the all-time series between the two schools, 28-25. RIT avenges an 18-16 defeat at the hands of the Bombers at Tiger Stadium last year.

RIT returns to action on Saturday, when they host Vassar College at 1 p.m. on the grass at Tiger Stadium. RIT will honor the class of 2017 prior to Saturday's game.